Talking dolls, i.e., dolls which emit human-like speech or sound typically in response to some physical stimuli, have been successfully manufactured and marketed for many years. However, a doll which simulates intelligent conversation between itself and a counterpart doll has not, to the applicant's knowledge, been successfully commercialized.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,030 issued Aug. 15, 1989 to Rose and assigned to Coleco Industries, Inc. discloses conversing dolls which comprise speech synthesizing systems and appear to intelligently converse with one another. These dolls employ radio frequency transceivers in order to signal, over a radio link, an indication of what particular synthesized phrase has been spoken by a first doll and to request a response which appears to be intelligent with respect to the synthesized speech of the first doll.
The above-mentioned conversing dolls suffer from a variety of deficiencies affecting their cost and performance. For example, the consumer must purchase two dolls, each of which is relatively expensive due to the incorporation of the radio transceiver devices. In addition, although the dolls may simulate human speech, the dolls themselves are static and do not realistically simulate human mannerisms when speaking, thereby depreciating the realism of play.
Accordingly, the invention seeks to provide a low cost, multi-functional, interactive doll capable of amusing children in a variety of ways. The invention also seeks to provide an interactive doll which mimics human mannerisms while simulating speech to thereby enhance the realism of play. In addition, the invention seeks to provide imaginative ways of engaging the interactive capability of conversing dolls, especially in interfacing with the typical daily routine of child's life.